Dear Stupid Diary
by ShadowWords21
Summary: Loving your squad is always tough. Especially when you have no respect to three idiots assigned to you. Maybe venting out in some girly diary will keep me from killing anything. For now. Eventual NejiTen and rated for language.
1. First impressions have failed

**Question that I can't seem to find the answer to: I know that the original is Gai, but the westernized version is Guy. Gai vs. Guy, someone please answer which is more appropriate.**

**Enjoy!**

I swung the door open and kicked off my shoes.

The raw anger I felt in my throat had subsided a bit so I wasn't just seeing red anymore, but it was however rage inducing enough for me to gouge out a chunk of wall with my killer left hook.

The gust of wind and the familiar smell of an old antique Chinese shop and cake hit me, but it didn't comfort me like it usually did. My eyebrows furrowed and the phrase 'MY TEAMMATES ARE IDIOTS!' echoed in my head. I quickly untied my buns and stormed upstairs to my bedroom. I didn't care that my apocalyptic rampage was so loud it had my mother drop a plate she was washing because I was not having it today.

And when I'm not happy, ain't nobody happy.

I threw my stuff around and screamed some more. My body had already been previously exhausted from juggling the idiots that make up Team Gai, so after a few minutes I threw myself on my bed and made loud unnecessary until my throat caved in (or at least felt better). I didn't care if I was acting like a toddler on steroids, but my mom sure did.

My bedroom door swung open and my mom's head popped in.

"Tenten! My goodness what are you doing?"

I felt that was kind of a useless question, because she obviously knew what I was doing (and screeching is about as subtle as an elephant in the kitchen). I drew a fixed glare on my face and gave a scathing glare to my mom. For a while the two of us just stared at each other, but then mother broke the silence in the form of three awkwardly connected words.

"You are angry." I didn't know how to respond to that. Was I supposed to reply to such a moronic statement? Saying 'no dip Sherlock' wouldn't benefit the situation any more that the earlier statement had.

I crossed my arms. Mother took this as a sign of approval for her to continue her speech of transparency.

"While ninjas are violent on the battlefield, I don't believe that behavior is proper in a place that feeds and shelters you. Even for a blossoming ninja, wouldn't you like to express your emotion in a calmer way?" I could see that my mom was being careful with her words. If there was a point in her brief rant I missed it because my mood darkened.

"Remember the diary I got you? I had one when I was a little girl. It will help sort out your emotions about growing up."

I made a sick face. I wanted to point out that mom wasn't a kunoichi when she was little, but I kept my trap shut.

"Don't give me that face." This time my mom crossed her arms. "The diary I bought you is pretty with refined pages and came with its own pen. I had to write on stapled shopping lists." I didn't believe that the quality of the paper would effect my opinion on how stupid diaries were.

I thought of the 'beautiful' bright purple and yellow painted butterfly diary. Diaries kept secrets, so I would only assume that they were supposed to look discrete. Could you imagine bringing something so bright on the battlefield?

"I don't want to write in it." I stated bluntly and glared at mom.

"It will help, Tenten." My mom put her hands on her hips and stepped inside my room. Without the slightest hint of my authority allowing her to look for my diary, she fishes out the blank thing in no time.

She opened it up, with her expression expecting to see at least several pages, but all she got were luminescent white pages.

She tossed me a pen that had come with the cursed thing and threw the diary square in my lap. I scowled, and my mom left the room.

I wish I had a time machine so I could go back to 6 AM this morning. I could go up to 6AM Tenten and tell her not to get up and go to the Academy today so on the offset chance that when I show up the next day they put me on a different squad.

I glanced back at the diary.

I didn't know why I did it.

_Dear stupid diary,_

_I think writing in you is stupid but my mom said "it will help sort out your emotions about growing up", which I highly doubt but here it goes._

_Today I was assigned my groups because I passed the Academy exams, like the awesome person I am. I hate my squad already._

_The Sensei, Might Gai, is kind of creepy. His cheekbones are really high and he wears a green jumpsuit. I have no idea what his abilities are but his automatic diligence has already annoyed me.  
_

I ceased the writing. I knew talking bad about my Sensei is disrespectful (especially since the level of his abilities are unclear so he could be as great as the Hokage), so I paused my writing and decided I would judge him at a later date (if he proves that I could surpass him).

Then my hand started to move again.

_There is this guy named Rock Lee and he is messed up in so many ways that I don't know where to start._

That was a lie. I knew exactly where to start. I crossed out the last part of the sentence.

_He doesn't know any ninjutsu or genjutsu, which makes me wonder how the hell he passed the exams. He appears to be colorblind, due to the fact that HE WEARS A SKIN TIGHT GREEN JUMPSUIT AND BRIGHT ORANGE LEG WARMERS. Seriously. Who does that?  
_

If our team were to be on a mission in the Arctic or a desert, I'm pretty sure the enemy will see us due to the dark green and bright orange that seem to contrast each other like a sore thumb. When I first saw him he was wearing a very reasonable white that could easily be adjusted, but instead Sensei had to give him that ugly jumpsuit.

_His eyebrows seem to be alive and might take off at any moment and his eyes creep the hell out of me since they are spherical in an inhuman way and appears to dream about being a girl due to his bottom eyelashes being emphasized like they have been neatly done with mascara. God._

_His haircut is ugly and Lee is obsessed with 'YOUTH' and seems to have sparkles of youth radiating out of him like 24/7._

I put the tip of my pen to my lip. I felt really shallow that I was solely judging Lee on how he looks, so to make myself feel better I put a personality trait into the mix.

_And he is probably in love with Gai-sensei._

I felt guilty for a brief second. I then concluded to myself that if Lee no one snoops in this, no one gets hurt. And if someone were to snoop, then they wouldn't be able to say it to me because then I would know that peeked, which protects me from getting hurt.

_Moving on from Lee, to the other dude in my group, __Neji Hyūga._

_Compared to Lee, Neji looks okay._

I felt this gagging feeling in my throat. I couldn't deny that his looks weren't horrible, but I couldn't force myself to compliment that idiot-lunatic-bastard. I looked back to what I have just written in horror. I just quickly added:

_If you don't see the hair right away._

At least that part was true. I knew judging Neji on how he looks is just as shallow, but I had talked to him a lot more on this faithful day, so his very clear asshole personality wasn't exactly hidden.

_Neji's hair is down to mid-back (so it's is longer than mine, which is weird) and it makes me wonder is he likes it that way or if he is just to lazy to get a haircut. And Neji really hates me now because I didn't make the best first impression on him. Usually with first impressions I am Ranger McFriendly of Sunshine and everything perfect or the chaotic bitch who clumsily screws everything up. With this Gai my first words that tumbled out of my mouth was "Hi. I guess we'll be in a group". When he just gave me a glare,_

I paused myself. I would like to emphasize that I was not feeling like being the nicest I could be. To be honest, I'm not very proud of what I did.

"_Hey, woMAN. Your MANLY fabulously conditioned and manly spa hair that drips with MAN must shine out of you in the manliest of man."_

To be more honest, I actually was proud.

_I guess he wasn't feeling that Ranger McFriendly of Sunishine and everything perfect today because his reply was an immediate, and I quote: "If we're going to make fun of hair it looks like two birds have made a nest, had babies, and died in a bun shape in your cluster of stupid."  
_

_I hadn't heard Neji talk for the first three hours and whenever Sensei would attempt to talk to him all he got out of the asshole were one syllable grunts._

_After our not that awkward small talk (more like offensive small talk), we went a full-out war on each other on what is wrong on the way we look._

I scowled and bit on my bottom lip in frustration. My brain slowly wavered to the previous conversations I had with idiot Hyūga and I could feel my stomach burning. Again.

"You are deriving some other village an idiot!"

I smirked.

"Well you smell so bad it seems like you marinate in your sweat!"

I frowned.

"Well you're so stupid you wear super douche looking pants!" I accused, my index finger glaring at him.

"Don't be jealous. These pants are gorgeous." He rolled his eyes and glared in my direction.

_Diary, the only way Neji would've peeved me more is if he said 'swaggerlicoius' instead of gorgeous. But after a while he deemed the conversation (or myself) too stupid and just resorted back to his one syllable grunts as responses._

_God I hate Neji (more than Lee!). He keeps mumbling about destiny and rolls his eyes every five seconds. He also weirdly tucks in a VEST-JACKET THING in his khaki shorts. But Lee wears a skin-tight green jumpsuit. Which is uglier, a guy with legs as skinny as sticks who wears a vest-jacket-thing tucked into his douche pants in which he calls 'gorgeous' or a guy with centipede eyebrows who could be either wearing an insanely thin jumpsuit or painted his body green._

_Then guy-in-love-with-Sensei stopped us from attacking each other. So with our first day thing, Neji and I just kept throwing insults at each other._

_Lee is a freak (based on his appearance. Personality traits will have to be suspended) and Neji is an asshole. Sensei is probably weird but I would feel too bad to judge him immediately.  
_

_From the girl who most likely has anger issues,  
_

Tenten

I stared at the pages I filled with my rant and started to reread them.

I did feel a smidge better.


	2. Barely passing

**I am not proud of the fight scenes in this chapter. I deem them too short and generic. Any criticism is to be much praised upon by me. Fei means 'fly' or 'dance in the air'. Will hopefully not overpower the story, because I hate original characters that don't play minor roles. Review!  
**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

_Dear idiot diary,_

_Today was absolute crap. My teammates were even more annoying today, with Lee having his sparkles of youth touching everything and Neji just plain breathing. I am pretty sure my squad is proof that whatever God out there has a sense of humor._

I hope mom isn't someone who reads their children's diaries.

_I had the chance to chat with one of the squads that had graduated from the Academy at the same time as our group. They had the Sensei by the name of Kakashi Hatake, and the three had done a 'bell test'. There squad was made up of the average looking shinobi, two guys and one girl. All three looked normal but they all were promoted to genin and demoted to Academy student in only forty eight hours. The girl had described the test being manipulative. The main point it to get one of the two bells hung on by the Sensei, and since the squad pretty much loathed each other they had went their separate ways to get them. Turns out, when I talked to the girl on the squad all three of them were walking to their fall semester at the Academy.  
_

_Gai-Sensei had one of those 'tests' today._

My eyebrows furrowed and I bit my bottom lip. Hard.

_Previously I had heard only Kakashi-Sensei did these 'tests', but Lee told me that Kakashi and Gai has had a very long standing rivalry._

_Apparently, not to be outdone, Gai tested his students. I honestly thought it was immature to test his students just to win some cheap contest, but then again if Sensei were to wear skin-tight green jumpsuits and think it looks 'manly', 'sexy', 'cool', or any combination of those three unflattering adjectives__, this test wasn't half-bad._

_Gai had us tested in a more direct way. He had already made note on our strengths and weaknesses and special abilities by talking to our Academy teachers and people's parents, and I have never felt so violated._

Why does Sensei think he can go investigate my private business? I understand that he is Sensei, but I would like to have a fresh start.

_I had to go up first with Lee and Neji watching me with their super judgmental eyes. I asked Gai what I should do and he just said 'show me your most advanced technique. Don't worry about hurting me'. Whatever the hell that means._

I also asked him "What will I be scored on, Gai-Sensei?"

"Ninjustsu, taijutsu, genjutsu, intelligence, strength, speed, stamina, and hand seals." Sensei listed from a tiny booklet, not even looking at me. I was really worried when he named off each criteria because I couldn't do genjutsu for my life. My stamina and knowledge of hand seals were also something to scoff at.

_Me, trying to prove to everyone and myself that female shinobi were just as good as anyone else, did an advanced technique that would set the bar pretty damn high for Lee and Neji. Very recently I was introduced to sealing chakra and weapons inside little scrolls. __I got out one of my weapon's scrolls and I strategically shot out at least twenty five weapons at Sensei. He blocked them with ease, which surprised me a little, but what Gai didn't know was that I am very talented at chakra control into other material so he couldn't even see my chakra connected to very discreet lines, which were attached all the weapons. Very quickly, I fired half my weapons in front of him as a distraction and the other half behind him.  
_

_Surprisingly, he blocked all of them with ease._

I know he is my Sensei so very naturally he would be able to block that attack, but I would think that one of my weapons were to have sprained an ankle or something minor. An ego-boost would've been nice.

_I didn't have much chakra left after that move and the chakra lines were broken._

I knew I failed miserably at this next part. Nothing had ever taken a blow to my ego as much as the events that transpired in the next minute.

_I kicked out another scroll from my scroll-holder strategically and hastily burst it open. I remember my mother showing me a book with this move when I was younger, but my dad insisted her to stop because it was too dangerous._

I have practiced it multiple times in our backyard when my mom was away, and each time I do it I screw up and blow up a hole in our backyard and our neighbors complaining of our backyard tree damaging their newly painted fence.

_I burst it open and tried to direct my chakra to the scroll._

The point of this dangerous move was to direct short; quick bursts of chakra into this special scroll and if you can control it well enough the scroll will wrap a very large radius around an enemy. It will then release thousands of kunais plunging toward an opponent. It is supposed to be moved so fast that a trail of dust or smoke will be left so the enemy is confused and temporarily blinded.

_It was supposed to work perfectly. I had surrounded Sensei and I was SO SURE that it would work, despite the fact I was fresh out of the Academy. I had practiced so many times on our backyard tree, and this one time it actually three-fourths worked!_

Even though mom and dad wouldn't talk to me for a week afterwards due to the fact so many of my weapons were out of control my neighbors called the police after one of my weapons killed their cat.

I hated that cat. Who in the right mind names their cat Princess Whiskers? That is a bitches name if I've ever heard one._  
_

Very, super unfortunately when I attempted to make the large radius around Sensei he just kicked the scroll so it would screw up and fly into the air. I was already sending the last of my chakra down the scroll and when there was nothing to shoot at a bunch of kunais started to rain from the sky. Whilst I was in the midst of my fall one part of my scroll exploded and sent me rocketing down.

What sucked was that the explosion caused half my scroll to crumble into ashes.

_I fell from the sky and landed on Rock Lee and Neji._

I had to admit it was a great, great landing. My elbow landed on Lee's head and my feet hit Neji in the groin. I was perfectly unharmed and stood up immediately, crushing Neji's crotch even further in the process. Lee got up with a bump on his head (which slightly improved his haircut) and Neji was kneeling on the ground shaking (probably silently cussing in his head).

I muttered a very mute apology to Lee. I didn't expect him to see me.

"I forgive you Tenten-san! May the power of youth be forever with you!" Lee gave me a salute even though I didn't even properly apologize.

"She didn't even apologize, you dipshit." Neji mumbled under his breath while kneeling.

_I was drained of chakra at this point and had very little energy left, so I slowly and embarrassingly acknowledged my defeat._

Sensei had told me that I passed. He gave me a giant thumbs up as if that were to reassure me.

_I am still ashamed that I didn't do better._

_Sensei had inscribed some notes down in the little book, which almost tempted me to look inside to see what I scored in._

_Next, was asshole Neji. He wobbled up, still apparently in pain muttering something that goes along the lines of 'if I can't have kids anymore I swear Tenten will pay with her blood'._

_I started to try to send 'negative vibes' to him with my mind, but Lee quickly stopped me. Lee told me he saw some of Neji's powers, and apparently they were very strong._

_Before Sensei had told Neji a word, his eyebrow's furrowed and he closed his eyes. Neji's eyes throbbed once and veins started to appear magically around his eyes. He opened them, and I saw that his pupils were replaced by one clear purple circle surrounded by an even clearer color. They looked kind of cool._

I gagged again. I crossed that out. It would kill me to compliment the idiot.

_His eyes were creepy with the veins and whatnot._

_Neji flipped up in the air, which was by the way MY OPENING MOVE. I couldn't see him for a while, but then he came back down and kicked Sensei in the head. At least that was the original plan for him. Gai caught his skinny-as-a-stick leg. Gai-Sensei's arm started to radiate with chakra as if he was about to blow Neji to the other side of the field, but instead of just limping around in Gai's grip Neji reached around and poked Sensei in the arm. I thought that was stupid, but then Gai's arm started to limp and some of the radiating blue chakra disappeared._

_Neji wiggled himself free, and began to poke Sensei in what half looked like strategic places and the other half looking like a grope-fest. His finishing move was another poke, but Neji sent a blast of his chakra with it. Usually the Sensei would defend himself by countering with his own chakra force but this time he stumbled back._

_Sensei started to use very basic taijutsu on Neji, but Neji always countered back or dodged._

My eyebrows furrowed again. I hated Neji so much, but he was really powerful. Ugly-bowl-cut told me that asshole blocked 'chakra points', which control the movement of chakra. He seemed to have blocked every one of Sensei's 'chakra points' and dodged every move Sensei made. I was a little insulted because when I was fighting Sensei he only made dodges and defense moves. With Neji's test Sensei was also attacking.

The next part was the only good part.

_Sensei then kicked, but instead of dodging, Neji was kicked in the face._

_It was satisfying to see the asshole go flying in the air, but it was instantly ruined when Sensei gave him the same thumbs up he gave to me and said he passed._

_After Neji was laying on the ground, mending to his bruised jaw and dying crotch, Lee went up super excited that he pretty much twirled up there with the biggest smile on his face._

_Before Gai-Sensei could even blink, Lee had lunged at him and attempted to punch him off guard._

_Sensei, in turn, blocked Lee's punch with a hand._

_In almost ten minutes, Lee hadn't laid a single fist, kick, or scratch on Sensei. Lee had bruises and his jumpsuit was pretty much destroyed from the knees to the feet, so his legwarmers were now just strings._

_I was getting pretty bored of the match and I glared back at Neji, who seemed just as bored._

I'm not exactly proud of what I did next. I started to talk to him.

"So. Neji."

"What do you want." Didn't really sound like a question.

"What's that weird eye thing you do that has those creepy veins throb on you temples?" I asked bluntly.

"Hn."

"You heard what I said."

"Why should I answer?"

"I'll kick you in the groin again."

"I would like to see you try."

"Bite me."

"Hn." More grunting sounds emitted from Neji.

"Well?"

"Hn." The asshole grunts so much if he did it one more time he would sound like a caveman.

And his hair would fit that role already.

"My special ability." No words wasted from the douche. Of course.

"And my special ability is mastery of weapons. I can fire weapons at people from the scrolls I own. Now that I have told you my specialty, can you tell me your jutsu?"

"I never asked your specialty."

"Now you're just stating a fact."

"Do you really want to know?"

"Yeah. Sure."

"No."

The conversation was irritating me. I was done talking about this subject, so I steered the chat in another direction.

"So. Do you think Lee will pass?" I expected a snort out of Neji. Maybe even a direct and blunt 'no' and a laugh. If he was capable of laughing.

"So. Do you think I like talking to you?"

"That was a horrible comeback."

"I know it was, but it's not like someone like you can do better."

"Shut up and answer the question, asshole."

"Shut up and answer the question…" Neji repeated slowly. "I can't do both, moron."

"You know what I meant."

He grunted in response. Before he seemed to close out of our chat permanently, I started to pester him some more.

"Yes." He finally answered. "It was his destiny to become a great ninja."

"What?"

"That's my answer."

"Why?"

"You ask too many questions."

"Now you're just stating a fact. Again."

"I don't like you."

"You sure know how to flatter a woman."

"Woman? I think not."

"You should be the last person here that should be questioning my gender, woMAN. Answer the question."

Neji sighed. "Lee has great willpower. Instead of giving up after the hundredth time, he gives it his all for the hundredth and first time. He doesn't know when to give up. That partially makes the will of a ninja. And stop calling me woMAN."

I was shocked. I didn't think Lee was the type of person to have such great determination.

"Hm."

"I've seen him train. He never quits. He is seriously annoying at times but he will become very powerful one day."

It was my first time Neji ever gave anyone a compliment. For all I know, that is.

"Would I be a good ninja?" I asked him. Not that I really cared for what he thought. My dream was to become a legendary kunoichi and this moron wasn't going to stop me. He snorted.

"I guess so. Your weapons jutsu is really shaky and crappy now, but I guess you would make a superior weapons master one day."

"Oh. How flattering." I wasn't lying, but it sounded really sarcastic when I said it.

"Haha." Neji rolled his eyes.

_I looked back at the fight. Sensei and Lee seemed to be at the same progressive state as I had last seen them. Sensei seemed to be hoping Bowl-cut would do something new, but Lee was delivering the same punches in the same places in a very tiresome pattern._

_After about fifteen minutes, Gai-Sensei stopped the match. He said that if Lee couldn't beat him in a week, Lee would fail and be sent back to the Academy.  
_

_It was surprising to say in the least. Lee seemed to be Gai-Sensei's favorite.  
_

This was not my favorite day. The only positive thing I must say about today was that I finally got a reply from my Aunt Fei, who is yet to be a legendary kunoichi and even though she is an amazing jōnin. To preface what I felt when I saw the thin, crisp envelope, imagine a fairy god mother telling you that you can eat without getting fat, love without getting hurt, and get money without doing anything. Now double that. Aunt Fei only mails twice, maybe even three times a year.

_I love my mother and all, but if she were to get replaced my Aunt Fei I would be happy as a clam. She provides me the words of infinite wisdom and descriptions of the many different villages that sometimes I haven't heard of, such as Yumegakure. She is more in touch with my life than mother has been for the past twelve years. In this letter, she had been sent on a mission to Iwagakure and wrote all about how she hated it there and unlike Konoha there was nothing of the sort that was even a hint of green._

I'm assuming the letter had been sent a while back, since in the last paragraph she wished me luck in the Academy finals. She told me that when I became a genin and had a squad that I should become close to them, because how well they like you may effect whether you live or die on a mission. As hateful as my squad may be, my inspiring aunt has motivated me to be civil again.

I proceeded to write down a quick letter to Aunt Fei, telling her I am now a genin and I will nicer to my squad. I decided to rip out the page in my stupid diary where I wrote about Lee, Neji, and Sensei instead of writing about them again. Amounting myself to do it again would be agonizing. I crossed out some of the profanity, wished her luck in Iwagakure, and sealed the letter in an envelope. I scribbled the address down and rushed down the stairs.

"Where are you going, Tenten?" Mother asked as soon as I reached the front door.

"I am taking this letter to Aunt Fei down to the post office."

"Fei is in Iwa." This was just stating a fact.

"Don't worry! I have money for a courier ninja!" I tried to reassure. Mother stared me down.

"I'm a genin, mother!" I finished off, slamming the door in mother's face.

Starting tomorrow, I'm going to try to make some new first impressions.

_From the girl who is now twenty percent more polite,_

_Tenten._


	3. The start of five AM training

**One Mean Girl's reference, Gai-Sensei out of character (as usual), giving Tenten a personality I wished she had (but no one knows what she is actually thinking), and delaying any Tenten/Neji moments until the time is right. _I_**_**f the words are written like this then it is actual writing in Tenten's diary**_**. Words written upright, like so, are Tenten's thoughts about what she is writing and memories from the day before.  
**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

_Dear brainless diary,_

_Mother is fuming at me for not having touched you for more that forty-eight hours. The persistence for me to inscribe in this stupid thing and the refusal to acknowledge that I am not some girly girl she can just mold with her sickly sweet words critically annoys the shit out of me. Prepare to get stabbed with a pen even more so._

_Yesterday, from what I can recall, was weird. Really weird._

_It was a terrible start to the day. Gai-Sensei called a meeting at about five A.M. Unlike a normal person, who would do it by word of mouth or by writing, Sensei had mysteriously found out where I live and peeked his creepy head through my window. I thought I had heard a voice and when I stared out my window another pair of eyes were staring back. I instinctively grabbed the kunai I laid on my bed dresser (like the always ready ninja I am) and threw it at Gai-Sensei in panic. He dodged it, but I think I hit a tree or something.  
_

"Tenten! It is five in the morning! Time to do some extra training! Embrace the power of YOUTH!" Gai-Sensei screamed. Everything he said seemed to be along those lines. His keenness annoyed me to no end and he kept bugging me until my feet met with the floor. I was struggling to get out of bed. Usually I wouldn't even bother taking a second glance, but Aunt Fei's haunting words about being nicer is still looming over me like a never-ending guilt fest.

_Of course I followed Sensei out, but he didn't give me any time to change. _

I was stuck in pajamas, which consisted of an extra extensive t-shirt with "I don't need no damn weapons! I am one!" scrawled on it and pajama shorts decorated with exploding notes. The second to last articles of clothing I would not want to have patrolling around the village in, with the first being my birthday suit.

_And, of course, I had to go following Sensei to wake Neji up too. And of course the asshole lived at Hinata's house. And the __Hyūga estate was really close to my house.  
_

Not that I didn't like Hinata. Even though she was still in the Academy and painfully shy, she was one of my friends.

Sensei and I were at the main entrance of the Hyūga household. Neji and Hinata had a nice place. Their place was so huge that I could probably fit my house into the place three times.

_Gai-Sensei started to pound on the door._

"Tenten! Help me wake Neji! Go check the windows to see if he is sleeping in one of them!" Gai-Sensei commanded me.

"Um…Okay Gai-Sensei." I muttered, forcing my legs to toddle to the side of the house.

The air was really frosty out. I felt like that the sharp air coming up my nose was just cooling me down inside and I couldn't heat myself up. The bitter air froze up my mind, and I tripped over a rock I would've been able to spot a mile away.

Now with a bleeding cut on my eyebrow, I stumbled up and tried to get my eyes to adjust to the new light.

It wasn't very dark outside. The world was a darkish-blue and it seemed as though there was a prominent light source but you couldn't see the sun. Despite that I could still see, I tripped over about a million things (I can't believe that even though I am such a graceful kunoichi I still could trip over my own legs) before I peeked through the first window. My face was numb, scratches were all over my eyebrows and lips, and I'm pretty sure a bruise was starting to form on my forehead. I slowly forced my legs to lift me up and steal a look inside the window.

There was a minute room with a floor covered in tatami mats. An armchair was placed in the corner, a small table with some books squeezed between the chair and the door, and several paintings and pictures plastered on the wall. Other than those objects the room was pretty empty. I ogled at the room a little bit longer before I noticed the an urn placed on a mourning stone and a photograph of what appeared to be an older version of Neji.

I tried to pay my respects to the mystery man, but instead I banged my head against the window when trying to lean forward. Damn, windows can be clear.

I sneaked over to the next window. I raised my head to see the image inside consisted of what appeared to be some training room, and was pretty small. There were painted walls, but there were some dark patches on the walls. Various weapons and equipment, what appeared to be several punching bags that were torn to shreds, and bandages scattered all over tatami mats. I concentrated on the dark patches, and it took me a while to realize those were blood stains.

_Blood stains, diary. Either Neji (or Hinata, who knows?) trains to hard (like the douche he is) or he is a secret serial killer. I would go with the last one, but that's just my opinion._

I went to the other side of the house (tripping over only one thing this time, which caused the gash on my elbow to widen) and peeked through the only other window on the house. It was a small and cramped bathroom. The door was skewered open, and through there I saw a tiny strip of hallway and then following that, another room, which was also diminutive. It appeared to be Neji's, because he was lying on the bed and was covering his head with a cushion.

At that moment the guy turned over in my direction, and when I looked at him I realized that was not Neji. That seemed to be an older version of him and when a woman peered in my direction (who also appeared to be a Hyūga), she let out a bloodcurdling scream. Were they screaming about the cuts and bruises on my face?

Another man quickly rushed down to the room, followed by a small boy and they all appeared to be related.

And then my slow processes evaporated and reality slapped me on the face. This wasn't just Hinata and Neji's place. This is where _the whole fucking Hyūga family lived. _I ducked down from the window and covered my face in mortification. When my ears came back to me and I started to listen, I realized that Sensei was still pounding on the main entrance door_._

I was unsure if Gai-Sensei realized that the family lived here (and who knows how many people).

I attempted to steer away from as many obstacles as possible before going back to Sensei's side. This was a huge mistake.

_Gai-Sensei was pounding away on the door. He took one look at my face and his own started to morph. He seemed to be in alarm but then he started to focus on the previous task: waking the douche up._

_I guess I really did look like my face was just stuck in a wood chipper._

_He yelled "Neji! My boy!" over and over. It was only three seconds before the door quickly slid open and a very irritated and a very awake Neji answered the door.  
_

_Until I realized that was not the douche but it was another __Hyūga. They all looked the same, all with their unnaturally long hair and glaring clear eyes. The man had to be in his twenties. My face went red. Hinata had described the amount of people in her house to be massive._

I covered my face. Sensei and I had just disturbed a noble clan at five in the morning. Oh god please kill me now.

"What do you two request for?" The man asked politely, but it was still obvious he was very irritated. Sensei didn't have any shame of disturbing one of the four noble clans of Konoha, but I certainly did. I frantically bowed my head over and over reciting apologies with the utmost sincerity. The man (quite begrudgingly) accepted my frantic and sloppy five A.M. apology.

"It is time for Neji's training!" Sensei screamed to the guy. I was afraid the man was going to beat Gai-Sensei up. Several other people came to the door at this time, wanting to see the people who would pound on the door ever so rudely. Everyone who came up to the door resembled each other in an almost impossible way. I started to frantically apologize again, but everyone (still quite begrudgingly) accepted my apology.

"You wish to see my nephew?" A man from the back inquired. I was too embarrassed to move, but Sensei shouted an upbeat yes. The Uncle wasn't pleased but acted upon the request.

_A woman went back inside (where I suppose was going to fetch him) and the people at the door seemed to lose interest and eventually they scattered to their respective bedrooms. A few minutes later, a very grumpy and irritated douche came to the doorstep. He was not alone, as he was accompanied by a little girl._

"Neji! It is time for training! Let's go!" Sensei screamed with enthusiasm.

"Tell me you didn't wake up everyone." Neji said in monotone. Trying to be nice, I also offered a frantic apology. When I looked up I was surprised he and the little girl were wearing pajamas. Even thought they were white and boring, it was an amusing thought even the most noble of clan's offspring would wear something so casual. My amusement quickly disappeared when I noticed that some people who hadn't dispersed were glaring at Sensei and I from the background.

"Neji, my boy, your youth is slowly slipping past you and eventually, your childhood will disappear. You will regret you didn't spend your time letting the power of youth shine through!"

"Who are they." The little girl ask-said. I concluded that all Hyūga's can't ask, they just state. Neji grunted in response, and the girl grunted to his reply. I concluded that Hyūgas are one lion skin away from becoming cavemen.

"Let us go, my youthful Neji!" Sensei grabbed douche by his arm and whisked him outside. When I looked toward him, I realized that Neji still had bandages wrapped around his head but no other member of his family did.

"Where are you planning to take him." The little girl ask-said.

"Tell Uncle that I will be back in a few hours, Hanabi-san." The asshole growled. The girl, 'Hanabi', mumbled a few words, pointed to her forehead, and walked away from the door (or sashayed away, because of how confident she held herself even at five in the morning). The mumbled words and forehead gestures confused me, making notes to ask asshole about it later.

"I haven't been able to change, Sensei."

"Me neither." I mumbled.

"The true power of the ninja is to be able to train no matter what they are wearing!" Sensei hollered.

_I decided I needed sleep so I turned around and attempted to walk back to my house._

Attempted.

_Sensei grabbed my arm and with extraordinary amounts of strength, dragged me and Neji to a 'secret location' (obviously the forest field)._

It was then a gust of wind pushed against the direction I was standing, and I felt the chill of the crisp air. The sharp air went up my nose and froze my insides too. I quivered, being only in my pajamas. My eyes darted toward Neji, who was also shaking. His shirt was thinner than mine, after all.

"What are you looking at?" He hissed. I turned my head away from him and resisted the urge to punch his ugly face.

_I expected Lee to be there, doing push ups or something with his thumb, but the area Gai-Sensei has chosen was surprisingly empty. I looked around, making sure I didn't miss a way too upbeat dude prancing around, but he really was gone._

"_Where's Rock Lee?" I asked absent mindlessly._

"_Hmm!" Sensei made a small noise of disappointment. "Lee isn't allowed to train with Team Might Gai. He has not passed my test yet and only has a few days before his youthfulness will be shipped back to the academy. You see Tenten, a true shinoibi, and kunoichi must face many obstacles in a ninja life, especially at a disadvantage such as not being..."_

_Gai Sensei then proceeded to waste five minutes of my life about 'the willpower' and 'the ninja ways". I dozed off for about half his speech before he suddenly ending the his speech with the finale of "...which is why food is impossible not to like!" and with his trademark 'Gai-pose', where he gives a thumbs-up and smiles and winks._

I don't know. I don't want too know.

Gai-Sensei then lectured Neji and I about the tests he had given out and why Lee had failed. He provided stupid reasons, like 'the kick was too high' or something, but I felt sad after Sensei was finished.

I could tell Sensei was trying to sound fuming, but he really just sounded gloomy.

Sensei didn't seem that focused. He gave us tasks, like 'kicking that log one hundred times' or 'fifty air-flips', but he never seemed to be as lively after he brought up Lee.

_I felt kind of bad, so I trained to the best of my ability to attempt to cheer Sensei up._

_It didn't work, because the asshole next to me wasn't trying to do anything other than breath._

"Pick it up!" I whispered to him. He just batted me away, not even bothering to look at me. He might have been mad about Sensei disturbing his family, but after a while I dropped the nice act.

"Do that weird eye thing!" I tried to command.

"It's not the 'weird eye thing', Tenten." The moron hissed and continued to barely suppress a punch.

"Then what is it?!" I scream-whispered.

"Why would you need to know?"

"Why shouldn't I know?" I crossed my arms and raised a brow. Neji paused momentarily to look at me. I thought he wouldn't be able to answer, but he bluntly responded:

"Because I hate you" Neji then poked me in the elbow and sent me away with a blast of his own chakra. I had to admit it was impressive he could make me just fly at about five in the morning, but since it was five in the morning, my head hurt even more that it would have when I landed.

When I hit the ground, a razor-sharp pang hit my head and my chest. First, that hit hurt like all hell broke loose. Not many have ever alleged they hated me, not even the childish insult "I hate you" has been directed to me often. I felt a splurge of blood hit my throat from the hit Neji inflicted on me. I swallowed the copper tasting liquid and dragged myself over to my training post. I felt a throbbing feeling in my throat and I wasn't sure if I was going to hit Neji in the face or burst into fat tears. Me, not wanting to come across like some needy girl who says she's tough and has nothing to back it up, just started to train even harder. I anticipated that the darkness of being up at five AM was enough to cover the probably cheerless look on my face.

After a few punches, the asshole stopped me and himself.

"Tenten, why are you upset?" Neji whispered. His voice was softer and not the usual blunt way he spoke. I hated it when people asked me 'what's wrong' or any variation of that. That sentence just enchants me to burst out into tears and that sinking feeling in my chest just to increase rapidly. I didn't understand why he didn't understand why since he just made me spit up blood. I forced the blood splurge down.

"I'm not." I replied, giving an extra hard jab of my leg to the tree. I need to get respected in this squad if I'm going to survive.

"Yes. You are. I can see your face." He almost certainly kept his slightly sympathetic monotone throughout the sentence, but due to him insulting me earlier and putting the word 'face'.

"Tenten," Neji breathed out while taking one last prod at the tree before continuing, "First, I insult you all the time and I am not exactly you biggest fan, and I am pretty sure this feeling is mutual. Second, you know one punch like that won't destroy you." I still didn't talk and I let not only the awkwardness of the situation increase, but also the tomato color on my features spread.

The air was thick enough that you could almost cut it with a knife. I looked up to the sky of darkness and tried to figure out what was the best response to this situation.

"I apologize." Neji finally muttered and looked away, feeling mortified. He didn't allow me to reply and went back to training. I stiffened at his partially kind words. I didn't think someone from such a noble clan was capable of feeling regret. If anything, I should be apologizing to him for being such a wussy girl.

_Neji __Hyūga. The natural asshole who also appears to be a sadistic douche apologized to me. I have no idea why but there was this accomplishment feeling, this happiness that sprung up inside me that made me proud that I was worthy enough to get asshole to apologize._

_Originally a private thought and my mouth working faster than my brain, my jaws and lips tugged and moved and formed the words "its okay, Neji". The douche stopped his training to look at me. Instead of flicking my ear or something, he gave a tiny smile that no one would be able to see unless they were looking for it. No matter how hilarious the smile looked, it was still refreshing. His smile seemed forced, so I assumed it was because of his lack of practice with emotions.  
_

_"Although it is okay, you can make up for being an insensitive asshole. What is your special ability called?" I voiced. Neji snickered. That strange snicker that was a cross between a cynical murder scoff and a girly giggle.  
_

_He then proceeded to mumble something to himself in an amused voice._

"Tell me your dōjutsu."

"Hn."

"God! Can't you tell your own teammate one thing?!" I screamed. I wasn't feeling tired anymore.

"It's a secret." The asshole shushed, suddenly acting looser. He put one finger on his lips and hushed again. I think he was trying to make me happy from what he had absentmindedly said and did earlier. My head was still sore.

"You don't have to have so many secrets." I whapped him on the head.

"Why do you think my hair is so long? It's full of secrets!" Neji tried to smile as he said this. I was assuming he was still trying to make up for what he had said earlier, but I've gotten over it at this point. I thought what he said was pretty funny so I laughed, but I could literally hear his pride getting smaller.

_Maybe that's a good thing. That douche is getting too cocky and too apologetic at the very wrong times._

_I am never going to let Neji live down what he acts like when he is the slightest bit guilty._

_Gai-Sensei seemed to be thinking about Lee, because even though he probably pushed the Lee topic aside, he was still clearly thinking about it._

_Training went in the most boring of ways after that. Even though sparring with Sensei and the asshole was kind of cool, there was nothing notable or benefit I gained in knowledge or strength._

_After three hours of useless training and my muscles sore to the bone, all I did at 8 AM was go to sleep._

At least that was the plan.

_At about noon I went downstairs to get a snack, but when I got down, I looked out my window for one second and I saw Neji staring back at me. I tried to flick his ear (as he does so with me) but he batted my hand away.  
_

"What do you want, you woMAN?" I asked harshly and sunk my teeth into an apple.

"Gai-Sensei wants to train some more. He said that four hours to rest was sufficient and our first mission will be approaching soon. And stop calling me woMAN." Neji growled. I didn't move.

"First, why should I come with YOU? Second, your long secretive hair has clandestine that you are a woMAN." He growled at me for using the 'secret hair' thing again.

"Sensei is going to slam himself on your door if you don't come out soon."

I heard repetitive banging sounds on the door.

"Tenten! My best kunoichi! Your youth is slowly slipping past and you won't be able to keep up a fabulous smile!"

_Sensei started to blurt out the most could-be-flattering-but-now-just-creepy compliments until I groaned loudly so he knew I could hear him._

"Yeah, yeah. I'm coming." I jumped out the window, almost hit Neji in the face with my feet, and met up with Sensei and Lee, who was standing next to Gai-Sensei and doing sit-ups.

_Ugh. I had to spend the next five hours practicing jutsu's I have already mastered and hearing Sensei and Lee squabble. But if I was having a bad training day, Neji was having an even worse one._

_I tried to hang out with Lee, but I couldn't talk to him if I wished not to interrupt Sensei of him. All Lee did was talk to Sensei about bettering himself._

It was a shame. I think I like Lee better than Neji. Lee attempts to be nice. Neji makes things awkward.

"Hey Rock Lee!" I smiled and got on the floor to do sit-ups with him.

"Tenten." Was all he could muster.

"So…" I trailed off. Usually the person I'm talking to would bring up a subject at this point. But after a few more awkward glances and grunts, I decided to continue to the conversation.

"Do you think you'll pass Gai-Sensei's test?" I blurted out. I turned red at my sudden outburst, replaying the sentence in my head to try to decide if it was offensive or not. It sounded offensive. Was I implying he wouldn't be able to pass Gai-Sensei's test?

Apparently it wasn't.

"Yes! Sensei may give out challenging tests, but that only means I have to train harder!" He shouted.

"Do you want to learn ninjutsu or genjustsu to aid you passing the test?" I replied absent mindlessly, also not sure if my words were offensive. Apparently, this wasn't offensive.

"No! I want to be a ninja who can be respected but no be able to do ninjutsu or genjutsu! I will just have to make it up with taijutsu!" Lee grunted as he forced himself to do more sit-ups. I was already getting tired.

_The next sentence I was about to say was what I thought was the most unobjectionable one yet, but it offended Lee. A lot._

"Ha. I think Gai-Sensei is grading you harder than Neji and I-" I wasn't able to finish my sentence, which was a polite "ha. Just kidding." before-

"TENTEN! That is not true! Gai-Sensei is the fairest person I know! He wouldn't grade a student harder because that is not the kind of person Sensei is!"  
I was about to apologize but then I realized that would only make things worse. So much worse.

_After the five hours of training, I couldn't move anymore. Five hours of repetitive, tiresome activities is way too much for me. The only thing that nearly made it half worth it to come out was today was also the start of target practice. I proved that I had the best aim out of my squad (excluding squad leader). I lay on the grass in the open training grounds and stared at the clouds. I can accurately state that I could hear my muscles complaining._

I had tried to move, but then a sharp would hit me in the legs. When I was active, it was just a tiring pain, but after I stopped all my muscles decided that it would be a great idea to go in such an ache that it was almost coma-inducing. My blister's blister's had scars.

Lee was super energetic (as always) and followed Sensei out of the 'secret forest location', and Neji had enough energy to stroll out. When he saw me on the grass floor, too tired to move, he stopped.

He grunted at me in question, as if asking 'what are you doing?'

"I'm tired." I mumbled, too tired to even speak.

"Not going home?"

"Aren't you ever not annoying?"

"You shouldn't be talking." Not a wasted breath.

After about five minutes of throwing around our usual insults, Neji got up and stuck out a hand. The asshole looked away. He seemed to be trying to help me up.

Me wanting to relish the moment of opportunity for embarrassing him, I grabbed his hand and heaved him down. The douche fell on the ground with me, and now with a pain in the arm I tugged him with, I broke into a smile. I don't know if I looked welcoming or just creepy.

The blankness on his face didn't change. He sat next to me for several minutes. I looked at the clouds, trying to be as lazy as possible. I then remembered the forehead gestures that Hanabi made at five AM, and I got up from my lying down position. But the wind suddenly blew and my hair started to get in my face, I aborted the questions and just moved the hair out of my face. I shifted my eyes to Neji.

_That weird brown hair of his blew with the wind and magically did not touch his face._

What had originally been a private thought magically escaped the filter in my brain and I voiced a very embarrassing "Why don't you cut your hair?"

"Excuse me?" Neji lifted an eyebrow, as if giving me a second chance to correct myself. No point in turning back now. Might as well ride the question straight to hell.

"Why don't you cut your hair?" I muttered this time, flushing red.

"It's full of secrets." Neji replied.

"We are not going back to this joke."

"Don't be jealous." Neji ran a hand through his hair. I giggled.

"It is nothing compared to mine." I unstrapped the bands and released the two bunched up pigtails. I revealed my gorgeous hair.

All I got was a grunt.

_We both eventually got up and went back to the village. We did our usual insults, stopped for dangos (with me paying about three-quarters of them, because Neji was a cheap asshole), and we both went our separate paths._

_It was a very strange day, indeed._

_Which leads me to today._

Even though the douche and I weren't in each other's throats for thirty minutes it sounds as if it didn't change a damn thing. When the asshole saw me he just scowled at me.

_When I was going to Ino's place (another friend of mine, despite her still being in the Academy), along the way I could see Lee practicing his punches on a tree. When I took a full look, it looked like he had smeared mascara under his eyes, so I thought he was punching that tree through the night._

There were marks everywhere that were in the shape of a fist.

I stopped in my tracks to get a gaping look of the strange sight in front of me. Lee was sweating from all ends and the two paces of his fists punching the tree were going at dissimilar, inconsistent speeds, so most likely he was unfocused. Talk about burning the candle at both ends.

"Hey, Rock Lee! Were you there all night?"

"If I can't do one thousand punches I will run around the village one hundred and fifty times!"

_He didn't seem to notice me._

_After reading jutsu and smelling flowers with Ino, I went back to where Lee originally was, and he was doing sit ups. I tilted my head to the side and asked if he was there all day, except I was louder and shot a kunai at him. Which scared the crap out of him._

And it was super funny.

"_If I can't do seven hundred sit ups I will do one thousand kicks!" He screamed with enthusiasm. I couldn't even do more than one hundred sit-ups. Is it humanly possible for someone at the age of twelve to actually do seven hundred sit-ups?_

_I stared at him silently._

Then it hit me. Lee wasn't going to stop until his ego was inflated enough to pass attempt to pass Gai-Sensei's test. What Neji said a few days ago about his willpower, I realized that that Lee was probably a lot stronger than I originally thought. He wanted to pass a lot more than I wanted too. Maybe Lee wasn't as bad as I had originally pictured.

"_Um…Rock Lee. Would you like me to train you?" I had asked quite loudly._

_Lee stopped with his sit ups and looked up at me. He quickly broke out into a grin and gave me thumbs up._

"_Yes ma'am, Tenten-Sensei!"_

_I liked the sound of that._

_I coached him for long hours. I made him do push-ups as rapid as he could while I sat on his back and had him dodge all of my weapons I fired at him. We worked on his speed before Neji showed up and ruined everything because that idiot destroys everything he breaths on. And now he owes me money for the dangos I gave him the day before._

"_What are you two doing now?"_

"_Ah! Neji! I am training with Tenten-Sensei!"_

"_Tenten's going to fail you." I glared at him._

"_WHAT?! SHE IS?!"_

"_No! I'm not! Neji's just being an asshole! As usual!" I huffed and stuck out my tongue at him. He mocked me._

"_Tenten-Sensei! You said a swear!"_

_I didn't know how to respond to that._

"_Tenten is a shithead. She doesn't know what she is doing." He flicked my ear._

I remember when he said this I looked at him with a frown. I could see the mock in his eyes disappear into guilt again. Until-

_I snorted. "Wow. Thanks for sugarcoating it."_

"_Shithead is sugarcoating it."_

"_Neji! You also said a swear!"_

_Neji didn't seem to know how to respond to that._

_I suddenly felt more stupid in the air._

"_Lee, my boy, are you slacking off?"_

"_No, Gai-Sensei!" Lee did this weird salute thing and started to do one handed push-ups. Even though Lee still hasn't passed the test yet, Sensei and Lee were still 'as tight as father and son', which is how Ino describes it._

"_Tenten, I have heard that you are training my boy Lee into passing my test, yes?"_

_"Yeah." I croaked. I am not sure if training his 'boy' would be a good thing or a bad one._

_"Well, make sure you train him hard and good. I don't want another person to barely pass my test," Gai-Sensei leaned in closer to me, "like you." He tried to all secretive about this fact, but Neji and Lee heard it as clear as day._

_Neji started to laugh. I wasn't aware that the asshole was capable of showing positive emotion, but in this case (since he was laughing at my expense), I hated that noise coming out of his ugly mouth._

I remember Neji's laugh. First, it was fucking weird. It kind of sounded like the cross between a cynical snicker and a Miss Sunshine Unicorn giggle and it was very contagious. It sounded like he wasn't really sure he was supposed to laugh and kind of sounded like a quiet seal barking.

"Oh god, Tenten!" Neji howled even louder than before.

I don't think Sensei knew that asshole was laughing at me, so Sensei started to laugh too. Lee, suddenly becoming aware of the laughter, stopped his training. Which caused Sensei to sit on Lee's back as a punishment and then do push-ups.

"_Your laugh is weird." I had told him._

His smile disappeared from his face. Etching the usual scowl back onto his face, he hissed at me.

"_Screw you."_

"_You know, Neji actually means screw." Gai-Sensei suddenly barged in._

_And I started to laugh, in which Neji got angry._

"_Oh god, that's rich!" I exclaimed, clutching my gut and laughing my head off._

"_The name 'Tenten' isn't much better!"_

"_So instead of saying 'screw you', I should start saying 'Neji you!'"_

"_Tenten I'm going to kill you!"_

_And that is how I got a bruise on my arm._

But, before all four of us left the forest training grounds, Neji grabbed my hand and placed several objects that were smooth and slick into my palm. When I looked at my hand, I saw about fifty ryō, summed up by the various coins.

I was planning to thank Neji for actually paying me back (plus extra, considering how cheap the food I bought was), but when I looked up, he was gone.

_From the girl who actually got her money back,_

_Tenten_


	4. The first mission is for babies

**If you don't know, the currency in the 'Naruto' world is by ****ryō, which translates into about ten yen (which is about ten cents). So ten ryō is approximately a dollar. Genin get paid about 5,000 ryō for each D-rank mission. And now Neji and Tenten are civil! Kind of. Please review!**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

_Dear moronic diary,_

_If I were to choose one thing I love about movies, it'll have to be the montages. Time-consuming, boring, and months worth of activities can be covered in half a minute with montages. Like a normal person, I hate actually watching them, with the cheesy music playing in the background, but you would get to the point either way. Zipping through the tedious material and getting to the really good stuff would probably make my life._

_But, there is no flicking a switch and pressing a button for time-skips in reality, so a week ago my day started like any other day, with a sharp pain in the neck. After dragging myself out of bed and attempting to look nice, I was all ready to sit on the couch and read for a couple of hours, before I remembered I was supposed to meet up with Spandex-boy._

When I met up in the grassy field, I got a peep of Lee practicing moves I taught him days before. I groaned to myself and wanted to press that 'montage' button, because when he saw me (energetic and way too bright like some goddamned ball of pure sunshine), he went straight to business with his usual "Tenten-Sensei! What is my next move I must practice?"

_With only a few hours away from Gai-Sensei's test, Lee and I were reviewing basic taijutsu and reading moves from a booklet I dug out from my bookshelf. It was around lunchtime and Lee and I still had a couple of hours before the test, I suggested we go to a tea shop and get something to chow down on. But of course Under-eyelashes just had to object._

_"__But Tenten-Sensei! If I go and eat something now, I would neglect thirty minutes of training!" Spandex-boy screeched with annoying keenness that I think my ears just died a little. My stomach chose this time to growl to remind me that the only thing I had for breakfast was a yogurt cup. I had two choices by this point. I could either continue training Lee and go hungry or drag Lee to a random tea shop where I can eat and he could cry on the table from his lost training time. Both required one of us to suffer, so I decided that it might as well be me._

_"__Fine. Give me two hundred kicks from page twenty one!" I screamed with all my energy and hoped he remembered what the 'kick from page twenty one' actually was because I didn't recall anything. Lee apparently remembered, because he started to flip and kick on a stuffed dummy I stole from a woMAN._

_After a few hours of training Lee (without withering out all his energy), I was drained. Emotionally and physically. My stomach felt like it was eating itself and there was about thirty minutes before Gai-Sensei's test with Lee._

Bowl-cut started to wrap new bandages around his fists while he opened his mouth to speak. "Tenten-Sensei, how can I repay all your hours of training?" Instantly, I thought of dangos and curry, but I decided not to voice my private thoughts.

"You don't need to repay me." I growled at myself. Of course I want to be repaid, but I decided it was the right thing not to ask for anything in return. Lee didn't seem to hear me.

"Ah! I know! A few hours ago, you mentioned you were hungry! We could get something to eat now!" Lee suggested. I wanted to hug spandex-boy. "I will go get some food!" Rock Lee exclaimed (as if stuffing our faces was a training exercise of not-puking-after-the-tenth-slab-of-cake) and took off in a sprint. I wanted to scream to him what I wanted, but I was way too dog-tired to even try moving. Shifting my head into a more comfortable position, I saw Lee running in the distance, with his spandex covering him so tightly it made me wonder if it was actually spandex or if he just painted his skin green.

_I don't know how long I had waited for Under-Eyelashes, but when he came back, he didn't just come back with food._

Rock Lee sprinted to the training grounds with a few small take out boxes that smelled like tea and dangos. I ripped through the boxes and devoured a colorful dango stick before I looked up to see not only Lee eating, but Neji also chewing away at the sweet treats.

"Why are you here?" I snapped and looked at Neji.

"Rock Lee dragged me here." Neji snapped back with just as much attitude.

"Yeah!" Rock Lee suddenly interjected. "I was walking to the tea shop and I saw Neji ordering dangos there. I told him to pay for two more people and now we're eating dangos, Tenten-Sensei!"

"So now you owe me dango money." Neji stated flatly. I was about to protest, but I couldn't find any way to object to his statement.

Just as suddenly with Neji barging in, Gai-Sensei came into the forest while punching the air in an enthusiastic way. I was slightly irritated that the whole squad was here, but I moved aside to let Gai-Sensei and Lee take the stage. I thought that Sensei would say a few words before he started to test under-eyelashes, but Sensei gave Lee a hearty kick in the back before he could even take a sip of his tea.

_The fighting started right away, and Lee's fighting style was pretty much the same. He was more fluid and flexible, but his punches and kicks were in the same places as the last fight. I wasn't the only one to notice this though._

"_Lee, my boy! Were you slacking off this whole week?!"_

"_No, Gai-Sensei!"_

_Even though Lee and Sensei were trying to gouge each other's eyeballs, they could still make civil conversation. Despite the age dissimilarity, different blood, and fighting to the death moments, they still respected one another enough to politely converse in any situation._

"So, idiot, when are you going to pay me back my money?"

_Unlike Neji and I._

"I don't know. Tomorrow, maybe?" I tried to sound sarcastic.

"Rock Lee's fighting style has changed." Neji voiced.

"Because he had a great Sensei." I snorted. Neji flicked me in the ear. "I told you it was his destiny to become a great ninja. When Gai-Sensei jr. said he would become a great shinoibi using only taijustsu destiny made his path for him and nothing can change that no matter how hard someone tries."

This had to be the fiftieth time that the asshole said something along the lines of 'destiny chose him'. Honestly, I didn't believe in that crap. You can be anything you want to be with enough work, but according to him no one can change who they were 'destined' to be.

What a load of horse crap.

My mouth almost betrayed me as it opened to vent out what I actually thought of destiny, but I composed myself after (once again) remembering Aunt Fei's haunting words.

"Lee, my boy! I must say you've improved!" Sensei screamed with eagerness while Lee slapped him across the face.

"Thank you, Sensei!" Lee screamed back while Sensei kicked him in the chest.

I figured that since we were Gai-Sensei's students, he would show mercy if he started to break something of the student. Due to the fact he had held back with me and Neji, I would think he would do so to Bowl-cut.

With Lee, Sensei was ruthless. The punches and various kicks erupted into mass chaos. I swear I got splattered with so much blood from one of those two idiots that my skin was pretty much red instead of peach.

_The 'rematch' went for a few more minutes before Sensei stopped Lee. He instructed all of us to sit down and Sensei took out a small book._

"I have recorded all of your scores. The variety of criteria I had graded you on must add up to a minimum of fifteen, and I must say that Lee has improved a lot since the last time I tested him." Gai-Sensei said proudly. That had to be the most intelligent string of words I've heard come out of his mouth.

Lee's hand shot up in the air. "Sensei! Can you tell us our scores?!"

"I am afraid that is confidential!" Gai-Sensei replied while smacking Lee for his 'foolishness'. He emphasized at random parts of his sentence, which makes everything that spews out of his mouth sound weird.

"Why can't you tell us, Sensei?!" Lee asked curtly while shooting his hand up. This caused Gai-Sensei to get in his usual weird happy-angry mood at Lee and 'punish' him with push-ups, which Lee does with a smile plastered on his face so wide it makes my face hurt.

After a while of watching Sensei emit all his favoritism all over Lee, I turned to spit-eyes and asked "What do you think you got?"

"I don't know. Higher than you." Neji sneered.

"How do you know?" I asked-said, implying I only expected what I wanted to hear. Despite the fact he is from one of the four noble clans of Konaha, sometimes (no matter how 'high' and mighty they may be) must get off their high horse and have modesty kick them.

"You know, for a kunoichi, you are too short tempered." He acted like he was my parent and stuck out a finger at me as if he could dangle me like some fucking puppet. I batted it away. No one will ever do that and live to tell the tale.

"What the hell if that supposed to mean?"

"It may be from hanging out with that Nara guy. You know the one with the pineapple for a head?"

"No." Neji continued anyway.

"But I guess most girls are more soft and patient and kind. Unlike you."

"And this isolated me because I exceed the patient and kind and awesome point to beyond expectations that may get even Hinata a run for her money?" I retorted. Neji stiffened when I said 'Hinata', so I made a note that he had a past with her (which I suppose should not be surprising, since they are blood after all) The douche soon returned to his glare.

"Yeah. Sure." He rolled his eyes.

"Thanks, sweetie." I tried to give a humorous lisp to my words to lighten the situation. After I sacrificed my dignity with my words, all I could get out of Neji was a weak giggle-snort that annoys and amuses me. Constantly.

_Honestly, moronic diary, it has worried me about how much hatred I possess for my squad. I had expected our squad to be close by this point (since it has been two and a half weeks, so at least not fighting), but it was hard to love a Sensei who is in denial about how old he is, a training ball of sunshine that is incapable of negative emotion, and a destiny-freak who perms his hair in his free time._

_Several days ago, Ino had informed me that one team would be trying out for the Chūnin Exams. I thought it was crazy that team would try so early. We haven't even gone on our first mission yet!_

At one of our training secessions I informed Gai-Sensei that a team was going to try out for the Chūnin exams and I asked Sensei when we were going to try out.

"Tenten, my best kunoichi!" He blurted out to me while giving me a thumbs up. "You have only graduated from the Academy roughly three weeks ago. I don't think it is very wise to try out to be a chūnin just yet." Gai-Sensei told me seriously. This was one of the rare moments where his words weren't sparkling with youth and truth.

_The next day, our squad was sent out on our first mission._

_I was super excited for my first mission. I sealed the maximum amount of weapons and chakra inside my scrolls and cleaned out my scroll pockets for four hours the earlier day, and when I came in loaded with weapons instantly felt mortified._

Lee wasn't anywhere near as energetic as he was during training and Neji didn't have his usual bandages. Gai-Sensei looked normal but somehow he looked more casual and relaxed. None were carrying weapons of the sort. The woMAN gave me a strange look and pulled me aside from Lee and Gai-Sensei's view. He took on good look at me and started to whisper.

"Tenten, what are you doing?"

"Clearly, I am standing, breathing, and talking to an idiot."

"Other than that!"

"So you admit you're an idiot?" I snickered. He growled and flicked my ear.

"Do you know what kind of mission we are on?" Neji leaned in close to my face and engraved an angry glare. Me, getting uncomfortable, pushed him away. I guess it looked like we were about to get into a fight of some sort because Lee suddenly pushed us apart.

"Stop fighting you two!" Lee exclaimed like he was some sort of superhero.

"We weren't going to get in a fight, Rock Lee." I shot Neji a look. Bowl-cut then took one good look at me and sketched a confused look on his face.

"Tenten, why are you carrying so many supplies? Even though it is wise to prepare for the worse, I don't believe anything wrong will happen during this mission."

_I didn't want to ask what the mission was. I stared at Neji and Lee, getting a tighter feeling in my stomach by the second. Not wanting to sound absolutely clueless, I decided to sound like my mom and start lecturing them._

"Despite the simplicity of the mission given to us, what if some S-rank criminal were to pop out and decapitate us? I would at least like to put up a good fight." I put my hand on my chest to show my maturity. Stick-legs groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Tenten. You are such a moron I don't think its funny anymore." Neji sighed but continued. "We are not even leaving the village."

_Then Rock Lee and Neji proceeded to make me more humiliated when they continued describing how this mission was actually one that practices 'self-control' and was designed for people fresh out of the Academy. Merely, all we were doing was taking care of some kid whose mother called for babysitting purposes._

When we arrived at the house (and me ditching my weapons so Gai-Sensei could carry them, but Sensei happily did and looked at it like his own training), I expected either a mom or a three year old child to answer the door.

Instead, the guy looked around our age with a humiliated look on his face. His mother came a few seconds later with a purse in hand.

"Now, remember to show the babysitters respect and not to get into any trouble while I'm gone." The mother lectured her child as he was to be much younger. Right in front of us, which was even more awkward. The mother's speech continued for a long time before the son rolled his eyes and said "I'll be fine, ma."

She left in a hurry and kissed her son goodbye. Which caused Neji to raise his eyebrows in amusement.

"Hate you too, Hyūga."

"You two know each other?" I asked in astonishment.

"Hm." He grunted and jerked his head, showing some sort of nod. "Shikamaru Nara." Neji answered. Shikamaru was a funny name.

"Pineapple head? If we're going on hair then shouldn't it be time for your hourly scrub?"

Neji only made a grunt in response.

_Shika-something's comment made me laugh uproariously. This kid wasn't so bad._

"You still need to be babysat. That's humiliating."

"It's a drag."

Neji walked inside the house with confidence. The rest of our squad trailed behind him. Shikamaru dragged behind us, trying to be some sort of host. He grunted us to the kitchen table and implied that our squad should sit down. There was a plate set in the middle that contained a variety of onigri.

"Ma said you guys could eat if you wanted."

_I had prepared for getting vomited on and endless crying from a babysitting job, but all Shikamaru did was kick everyone's ass at __shōgi__._

"I win again." Shikamaru yawned. I didn't think it was possible. Pineapple head had won a game of shōgi in only three moves. Against Neji, Lee, and even Sensei. He won against me. And I thought I kicked ass at shōgi. I tried to be as polite as possible to Shikamaru (since his 'ma' was paying us), but it was difficult not to get irritated every time he says anything with the words 'what', 'a', and 'drag' in every sentence he said. I don't think I've ever heard so many variations of 'how the hell are you people so stupid' in my life.

_About two hours later, the mother returned and presumed to hug Shikamaru as if she hadn't seen him for years. After that, his 'ma' screamed at her son (who didn't seem to care) after she found a half-eaten dango plate. Even after Pineapple-head accused Neji, we were still paid about 4,000 ryō, so naturally each one of us got 1,000 ryō._

Sensei went to report our mission and naturally Lee would tail behind. I felt obligated to follow them, but I first paused and stopped Meji.

"Here." I shoved about a hundred ryō into Neji's bandaged hand. The douche looked at me in shock, as if I wasn't going to pay him back. He looked at the various coins, as if checking is they were real.

"Yeah. It's real money. For the dango the other day." I rolled my eyes and looked down in embarrassment.

"Thank you, Tenten." He thanked me genuinely. I couldn't see him, but I couldn't bring myself to lift my head.

I was shocked. Did the asshole actually say my name with no snarky remark attached to it? I looked up from the ground for clarification, but familiarly I saw no trace of Neji. I scowled for a moment before smiling to myself.

_From the girl who is also 'Sensei',_

_Tenten_


End file.
